Clocks and watches can be classified into two main families depending on the type of movement used. Electronic clocks and watches, most often regulated by a quartz crystal, have the advantage of great accuracy and moderate cost thanks to industrial manufacturing technology. The time calculated by electronic clocks and watches is most often displayed in digital fashion on a liquid crystal segment display or sometimes by means of hands driven by a stepping motor whose running is regulated by the quartz. Liquid crystal segment displays have the disadvantage of a limited contrast making it uncomfortable to read the digital symbols formed by the segments, notably in low ambient light. Stepping motors generally cause a jerky displacement of the hands, considered unquiet and not representative of the continuous passing of time.
Mechanical movements make it possible to display the time by means of hands or other indicators moving in near-continuous manner whilst making the reading comfortable, even when the ambient light is low. Furthermore, the extraordinary ingenuity of some mechanical movements and the possibility of showcasing their components is considered fascinating by many users, notably in the case of skeleton watches that enable parts of the movement to be admired through the watch crystal and the dial. Mechanical watches thus generate considerable interest and there is an established commercial need for mechanical watches with a dial animated by the elements of the movement in motion.
The manufacture of mechanical movements, however, is complex, so that mechanical movements are generally more expensive than electronic movements. This is in particular the case of mechanical movements with grand complications or when the movement needs to be decorated or machined so as to be permanently visible behind the clock and watch crystal. Mechanical clocks and watches displaying their complications are thus almost exclusively reserved to the upper segment of the luxury clock and watch market. Furthermore, only a small proportion of the potentially interested customers can avail themselves of the mechanical clock and watch collection that is required in order to appreciate the multitude of different complications proposed by the clock and watchmakers.